Zurrog
Wisdom Master. LG demipower of wisdom, transcendence, science, knowledge, knowledge, journeys (He/Him)
Pantheon: Orcish
Symbol: Crossed hands bearing the glyph for ‘orc’
Realm:Â Bytopia / Shurrock / Wisdom Rekindled
This the tale of the orc power Zurrog, the Wisdom Master, how he fell from grace, and how he forged his own kind of grace.
Zurrog was never the golden child, as the brainbox of Gruumsh’s brutal brood, he was nothing like the rest of his kin. While they brawled and bashed, Zurrog pondered and planned. He was the embodiment of wisdom, knowledge, and the kind of cunning that could turn the tide of battles without spilling a drop of blood. But in the halls of power, where might makes right and the strongest arm takes the throne, Zurrog’s gifts were as out of place as a modron in a slaadi nest.
Gruumsh, One-Eye, the warlord of the orc gods, saw his son’s thirst for knowledge not as a boon but as a bane—a threat to the iron-fisted rule he championed. “Wisdom?” he’d scoff. “What good can come of this? What use is wisdom when strength and steel win the day?” So, it was with a heart blacker than the depths of the Abyss that Gruumsh hatched a plan to rid himself of this embarrassing anomaly in his lineage.
Under the guise of a grand quest for knowledge, Gruumsh sent Zurrog to the farthest reaches of the multiverse, to uncover a tome said to contain some lost secret or other of the elves. But this was no noble quest; it was a banishment, a wild goose chase through the planes designed to rid Gruumsh of his too-clever son for good. Betrayed by his own blood, Zurrog was cast out, never to return to the fold of the orcish pantheon.
But as they say, every cloud—no matter how stormy—has a silver lining. Zurrog’s travels brought him to Bytopia, the twin-layered plane of honest toil and hearty craftsmanship. Here, in this land of gnomes and endless industry, Zurrog found a place as out of step with his nature as he was with his kin’s. On Shurrock, the wild and tempest-tossed layer of Bytopia, Zurrog was met with suspicion and fear. “An orc, here?” they’d whisper. “What good can come of this?”
Yet, Zurrog was not deterred. With the strength of his arm and the depth of his wisdom, he set to work. Amidst the howling gales and relentless toil, he saw potential where others saw only hardship. He combined his brute force with a keen intellect, devising machines that could harness the power of the storms, innovations that could ease the backbreaking labor of the gnomes. Slowly, surely, the suspicion turned to admiration, and admiration to respect.
In the heart of Shurrock, Zurrog carved out his realm, Wisdom Rekindled, a bastion of learning and strength combined. Here, in an unloved place where the storms never ceases, his libraries stand beside forges, and sound-proofed lecture halls open onto training grounds. Wisdom Rekindled embodies the power of knowledge and the strength it can bring.
The souls that find their way to Zurrog’s realm are as varied as the books within its libraries. Scholars and warriors, thinkers and labourers, all who believe in the strength of wisdom and the wisdom of strength, make their home here. They work, learn, and build under the watchful eye of Zurrog’s trusted proxies, creating a corner of the multiverse where knowledge is the sharpest weapon and the strongest shield.
See Also: The Truth About the Orcish Pantheon
Source: Chris ‘Orc Friend’ Nichols and Jon ‘Orc Skeptic’ Winter-Holt
